Weathered Gorge
by OwlsCantRead
Summary: One crass comment from Gyro was all it took for Petrie to snap. But what continually bugged him afterwards was whether his callous sibling was right after all… was he a failure of a flyer, just like his father? The only way for a troubled Petrie to refute those claims and exonerate himself was to venture to where his father had lost his life… and conquer the deadly Weathered Gorge.
1. Fraction of a Second

Words in _italics_ represents character thoughts or flashbacks.

The various prompts of the Gang of Five forum's Fanfic Prompt Challenge for the year of 2020 has been released with a bang! The given prompts for this year's challenge look very fun, yep, yep, yep, so I'll definitely participate and compete as much as I can. With that in mind, you should hopefully be able to see a whole cavalcade of Land Before Time content from me in 2020.

I couldn't finish the Dec prompt in December itself, but the deadline is January anyway, haha. Getting right down to it, the theme for the month of December 2019 is: "_The gang is notorious for exploring new places and finding new difficulties along the way. Write a story where one or more of the gang explore(s) someplace new and, along the way, discover(s) something about themselves as well._"

* * *

**Chapter 1: Fraction of a Second**

Ask a flyer about which place their kind found themselves having the most affinity with across the entire expense of the Mysterious Beyond, and the resulting answer would be the same, unanimous even amidst an entire flock of them.

The boundless sky.

Wide and sprawling as far as the eye could see, the expansive skies were a facet of life that could only be truly experienced by the avian dinosaurs, and this was something that very clearly showed. When flyers soared in the air, they were invincible and untouchable, bound not by the rough contours of the land thanks to the trusty wings that were a part of their namesake.

In short, this domain was ruled by their kind, and their kind alone. It was an indisputable fact.

…all this being said, a lesser known fact about these magnificent winged creatures—a term which many tended to use when they were referring to flyers—was that they had one other locale where they could still feel right at home despite technically not being airborne.

_"Oh, oh, oh! There it is! Feast your eyes upon the miraculous canyon of legend… where weather itself is twisted to the whims of nature! Doesn't that sound incredible, dear?"_

Now what was the place in question, one might ask? Though the question posed seemed obtuse for non-flyers, the answer was more apparent than one might think — tall and rocky bluffs, the closest that a flyer could get to the skies above while technically still bound to the earth below.

_"You're nuts, Skylar. Absolutely bonkers. Really… 'feast your eyes'? So very melodramatic, the wild gesticulation you did with your wings really sold that delivery. But y'know, that's why I love you so much, you reckless flyer, you."_

It was this exact picture that plagued the flyer's mind as her memory brought her back to a jagged and twisted ravine that, from the bottom, seemed to extend upwards until it touched the sky itself.

_"Come on, dear. Don't try to sweet talk your way out of this. Yes, I can see you rolling your eyes at me. You clearly knew I was a spunky daredevil from the day you professed your love to me. This shortcut cuts right through to the Miracle Plains, a fertile land of green and trees for us flyers, hence also the perfect spot for a nest. Let's make this perilous journey for the sake of our unborn children."_

The dark and almost unnatural sky should have been a preamble that things were about to go wrong. The flyer grimaced, clenching her eyes shut and wrapping her dark blue wings around her body as she inwardly cursed herself, remembering how she and her light-brown colored mate had foolishly ignored those warning signs and flew into the large canyon…

…something that they both soon regretted.

_"Darn this place, Skylar! I thought that the erratic weather was a joke or at least an exaggeration, but this whole place's going spastic! Gah, we should never have taken this shortcut!"_

"_I was going to call you a wimp for trying to squirm your way out of this, but given the current state of affairs right now, I hate to admit that you're right! Even my hotheaded brother Pterano would think twice before tackling winds of this magnitude. Let's just hurry and press through before things get any worse! We've come too far into this gorge for us to turn back now!"_

A sigh escaped her as she recalled the exact point where the seemingly innocuous and fun flight turned into anarchy and chaos. As the male continued to complain, the already downcast weather turned absolutely horrendous. Before either of them knew it, a harsh change swept through the ravine, the howling winds picking up so much speed that it ended up grounding both her and her mate as flying under such extreme conditions was virtually next to impossible.

"_This wind's getting insane, Skylar! Gee, this is some storm… and the horrendous sky water isn't helping one bit! Visibility is terrible, and my wings are completely soaked! Ohhh, I knew we should have simply quit while we had the chance!"_

_"Quit complaining and hold yourself together! We're already drenched from beak to toe, so there's nothing we can do now but trudge forward to get out of this heinous storm. Slow and steady now, make sure you take one step at a time! These strong winds will send you flying like a helpless treestar the moment your hind legs aren't planted firmly on the ground! Come on, we can do this!"_

The miserable flyer looked to the sky, immersing herself fully into the memory and mentally preparing herself for what she knew was to come. Although Skylar did not know it then, the weak reassuring smile her mate had flashed her in that exact moment of time as he struggled against the winds would end up ingrained into her head.

It was the last time she'd ever seen him relaxed.

_Just as things were finally beginning to look up, everything went wrong in a fraction of a second. A searing flash that was even brighter than the Bright Circle in the Warm Time turned the entire skyline white in an instant, the deafening bang from the sky fire blast reverberating throughout the entire valley._

_"Yyahhhh! Helppppp!"_

_Distracted by the light and sound, the male lost his footing against the ground, and then everything happened in a blur. In an instant the khaki flyer was flung back, his large wings immediately caught up in the relentless gale. The only thing that kept him from being blown away was his mate reacting instantly, grabbing desperately onto the tip of his wing._

"_S-Skylar? Y-you… caught me? Oh, praise the Bright Circle, you really are as strong as you are beautiful, you wily flyer!"_

_"Yes, I did… and will you stop giving me that sappy face, you miscreant! Hurry and plant your legs back on the ground! These winds are far too strong! I can barely support myself, let alone you, so quit wasting time staring at my pretty face and get to regaining your footing before I lose my grip!"_

"_I would if I could, but I can't! The winds are blowing my body in a skywards arc! I can't force my body to the ground when it's blowing me up in the opposite direction!"_

"_Fine, then! We'll wait for this horrendous gale to subside. But until then, in the name of the Bright Circle, don't you dare let go of my wing! C'mon, I can already feel you slipping!"_

"_Ugn… I know, I'm trying—"_

Bang!

_A brilliant flash lit up the sky, the sky fire distracting them both for just an instant. But unfortunately, that minuscule interference was all it took for the course of their lives to be altered forever. In the span of time that it took for the two flyers to blink, a disoriented Skylar accidentally loosened her grip on her mate's wing._

_"Nooo!" she cried, seeing her horrified expression reflecting in her mate's eyes right before he was wrenched away by the relentless storm. Instinct then forced the flyer to throw herself down to the ground below lest she ended up being carried away as well._

_"Sk-Skylaarrrrrr—"_

_A sickening crack followed his panicked cry._

_Skylar felt her heart freeze. Her body still pressed flat against the damp ground, the flyer willed herself to take a peek in the direction of the sound…_

…_and immediately felt sick, wishing she hadn't let curiosity get the better of her as she was greeted with the chilling sight of a crimson red liquid being spilled all over the rocks._

_There was a brief moment where time itself appeared to freeze as Skylar and her mate locked desperate eyes with one another. Her mortified beak was agape and greatly juxtaposed by the resigned slackness of her mates' beak. His high-pitched shriek of panic had instantaneously turned into a muffled gurgle on impact, and it didn't take her long to realize why his expression was so dazed — the large hole in his head was enough explanation, so blatant that even a yellowbelly couldn't be mistaken about what had just happened._

_And then, with another bolt of sky fire, time unfroze._

_Her mate went into violent convulsions, the flyer wildly flailing his wings about in what appeared to be excruciating pain caused by the bluff's sharp rocks impaling him through the side of his head, the grotesque nature of his unfortunate plight only further accentuated by the copious amount of wet blood pouring out of his beak._

_In her heart Skylar knew that his injuries were mortal from just a single glance, her mate making the distinctive death rattle made by dying dinosaurs who were choking their last breaths only a further confirmation to the grim reality that was playing out before her. And yet, despite what her rational mind was telling her, she couldn't help but to desperately plead for a miracle._

_"No! No, no, no! Please… I haven't even laid my eggs yet. You were going to be a father to our unborn children… our precious hatchlings! Please don't die on me… you can't just die on me like this! I won't let you… you have to live for my sake, for our future children' sake! Don't leave us like this!"_

_Despite her desperate begs, the miracle never happened for her. Her mate didn't even react to her fearful cries, his glazed eyes a terrifying hint to Skylar that her mate couldn't even see her, let alone process what she was saying._

_Far too soon those writhes of agony turned into feeble twitches before the male's broken body slowly slumped to the ground as a result of gravity, his beak frozen in a contorted expression of surprise and pain. The haunted emptiness in his eyes accompanying the twisted look on his face was enough for Skylar to break her composure as she bore witness to her mate unconsciously kicking his feet up to the air one final time, his death throes finally concluding with a whimper as the flyer mercifully breathed his last and was put out of his suffering, entering the Great Beyond without any fanfare._

_It had all happened so fast. One moment he was joking around with her, the next his limp body was cooling, devoid of life and exposed to the surrounding elements. Give a day or two and his corpse would be nothing but bones, either having rotted away under the Bright Circle or stripped of flesh by scavengers and sharpteeth._

_Skylar could only stare at the cold broken carcass of her mate before slumping back down to the wet ground below, the stricken tears streaming down her face mixing together with the puddles of falling sky water and the rapidly congealing blood._

_"It… it wasn't supposed to be like this… I… I…"_

_She didn't know how long she stayed there, lying uselessly on the ground. Only when the boom of a nearby sky fire pounded her eardrums did she shakily get to her feet._

_Even if her mate was gone, she owed it to him and her future children to not perish here. Taking one last fleeting look at the body of her fallen mate, she took off to the skies when the winds were on her side._

'_To hell with the Miracle Plains… this bloody shortcut wasn't worth it! My poor mate… I killed him. If I never brought him here…'_

_Jerking her head to stop that thought before it depressed her further, she proceeded to make one last vow in her head as she ascended, determined to get out of the storm alive and not let her own legacy die in this forsaken ravine._

'_I swear to the Bright Circle… I will never return to this damn place for as long as I live!'_

* * *

The skies above were filled to the brim with darkened sky puffies which cast a long shadow over the entirety of the Great Valley.

A dark blue flyer drearily gazed upwards to the gloomy sky with a downcast mood which roughly matched the state of the weather. Her eyes lingered in that position, still and unmoving. Even though by this point of the day the Bright Circle should have made its appearance already, she quickly surmised that it was likely to be absent due to the numerous number of sky puffies clustering and congregating above.

…and perhaps that was for the best.

She had snuck away from the nest, giving herself some alone time from her six children for once. Considering her current emotional state, she definitely needed to take a moment to recuperate, especially considering that the damn memory had plagued her non-stop throughout the night.

The vivid imagery of her mate's final resting place always gave her chills, even though it had been so long since it happened. She didn't like to think about the loss of her mate for a multitude of reasons. For one, it brought back painful memories of happier times spent with a handsome and witty flyer who knew her inside-out. Though she eventually learnt to deal and cope with the absence of her other half who once completed her like the Bright Circle to her Night Circle, there were days where that stony façade broke and she reflected back upon those times with a hungry yearning.

"Get a hold of yourself, Skylar," the flyer firmly told herself, shifting her posture as her body shook. "You promised yourself Cold Time after Cold Time that you got over him. Your mate passed over to the Great Beyond a very long time ago, and you're all your children have left. Who will take care of the kids if you break down over past events?" she asked herself. "It is all in the past, with an outcome that you cannot change…"

Still, on somber days like this, she often found herself pondering about how different things would be if they hadn't made that foolhardy crossing to Miracle Plains through that blasted canyon. And as if to add insult to injury, Skylar had soon been forced to shift away to a different place as the so-called "miracle" plains ended up being an unconducive location for her nest, thus rendering the entire flight moot.

_What irony. My hastiness to get to a place which ended up being unaccommodating to us got my darling killed for absolutely no reason whatsoever. It was all for naught, huh? Good to know, Skylar, now you've sunk yourself into an even greater bout of depression…_

"If only I hadn't been so foolhardy to attempt a crossing through _that place_…" Skylar lamented. "If we didn't take that risky route to Miracle Plains, you would have lived to see your children. Darling little Pitch, Yaw, Roll, Gyro, Gryphon, and Petrie," she listed them off from oldest to youngest, allowing herself a small smile as the thought of her pride and joy warmed her heart despite the melancholic ambience hanging in the air. "They would have loved to have a father, and I bet that you would have loved them tenderly too, my dear."

Her mood then proceeded to swing as abruptly as a threehorn on an ego trip, fiery eyes shooting to the gray sky above that just so conveniently happened to reflect her current frame of mind. "It's the fault of that wretched _Weathered Gorge_!" she burst out in anger. "I should have believed the rumors about how treacherous that place was instead of treating it like a joke, and my mate paid the price for my foolhardiness! But at least now I would never forget where that accursed mountain range is located… near where the Land of Mists is in present day, towards the direction where the Bright Circle rises from the ground."

Skylar finally exhaled a relieved sigh as she finished her rant, getting it out of her system. Feeling much better now, she left her perch and made her way back to the nest. Even if the Bright Circle wasn't visible due to being obscured by sky puffies, it was roughly time for them to wake up anyway.

…but little did she know that her six children weren't actually asleep, and nor were they at the nest.

The adult flyer didn't have a clue that a crowd of very rambunctious flyers had intruded and eavesdropped on one of her most personal moments, or that her poignant words would end up being the catalyst to a chain of events which no one could have foreseen.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Only a matter of time before I got around to tackling the topic of Petrie's father. In case you can't tell, Skylar is Petrie's mother. I haven't thought of a fitting name for Petrie's father, so I shall leave him nameless.

Barring that, I'm… not all too happy with how this story turned out. Those on the Discord server probably heard me say that Dec is the prompt that I'm least interested in and yet still wish to write about. As a result, I've hit an impasse with it throughout most of December.

To be frank, this is a rather self-indulgent fic. While my normal stance is to write unusual stories that haven't been done before and embellish them with details, I've shed that mindset this time and instead attempted a topic close to my heart — you'll soon find out what it is. It will also have a lot more action than what I'm used to writing, but I snuck in those low-key introspective moments as well, which is probably how this thing got so blastedly long that I had to split it up again. It is also the first prompt fic I've written to not use events from a movie as a base and instead focus on an entirely original scenario, something which I am striving to try more this year. Weathered Gorge is an entirely original location of mine, for starters, and it is the primary focus of the prompt.

Because of all this experimentation, this story might not be of the highest quality compared to some of my other offerings, but I'm generally satisfied with what I have so far. The flashback might be rather graphic, and that was because I wanted to actually try writing a drawn-out death scene, something which I haven't really done a lot in my LBT writing thus far. Gotta get some practice in for the hard-hitting stuff, after all.

This was supposed to be a one-shot—hm, where have we heard that before—before the actual adventure itself was thrown off by an approximately 7K word setup. I am in a bit of a lull as my studies resume next week, so I decided to post what I've already written to tide me over until I write the actual adventuring part of the story. This fic will only be four or five chapters long, so I should be able to finish it in time. :)


	2. Like Father, Like Son

**Chapter 2: Like Father, Like Son**

"So you're telling me that _this_ is how Dad actually died? You've gotta be pulling my beak! Are you kidding me… _are you freakin' kidding me_!?"

The anguished cry rang throughout the open clearing, the sudden outburst causing a few heads to shoot towards the source of the voice, their attention focused on the one who had made such a careless remark so flippantly.

Not that the speaker actually cared about the attention, of course. The dark blue flyer wouldn't have stopped talking unless a Burning Mountain blew its top right next to him. But since nothing of the sort happened, he clenched his wings and barreled forth without an ounce of restraint. "I mean, come on! We were left with just our Mom all because he couldn't even make one simple journey, the nerve of him!" he continued lashing out in frustration, "All those lonely nights I've endured as a hatchling could be attributed to him being unable to make a routine flight through a canyon pass! How hard can it be to fly through one damn gorge!?"

The oldest male and second-oldest of the siblings breathed heavily after he let loose his agitation from his initial impression of the revelation, before glowering in annoyance as he flicked his eyes around and saw that he had become the center of attention.

"I understand that you're angry, Yaw, but let's not get too hasty with casting judgement or jumping to conclusions. Actions fueled by emotions never end well, ever," Pitch chided, being the de facto leader of the flyer siblings as she was the first to hatch. "We still don't know anything about what happened to Dad besides what she just slipped out. I mean, Mom always kept mum about the topic."

After shooting his russet-brown older sister a knowing look for trying to downplay the tenuous atmosphere with a pun, Yaw managed to find it in himself to tear his eyes away from her scrutinizing expression. "That's easy for you to say, Pitch," he grumbled, "You always _were_ the emotionally headstrong one…"

"Unlike you, Yaw!"

Yaw snapped his head towards the instigator, a cocky rosy-brown flyer with a penchant for trouble. "You're one to talk, aren't you? Especially considering that you regularly call threehorns horn-faces without so much as a moment's hesitation. So how about you keep your beak shut, Gyro!" he sneered. "I'm not interested in listening to your half-hearted, snarky opinions!"

"Aw, sorry…" An unfazed Gyro made a faux apology, his relaxed and laid-back demeanor making it clear to everyone in the vicinity that it was insincere. There was a reason his mother often admonished him of being a male who had 'the Time of Great Growing come too early', a moniker that he often lived up to. "Did I strike a nerve there, brother?" he taunted with a precise strike, relishing the shade of angered red that was rapidly spreading across his oldest brother's face, a stark color contrast to Yaw's deep blue body.

"Well, what do you think?" Yaw rebounded back onto his younger brother. "It's not my fault that we ended up here learning about this! I had no forewarning to prepare myself!"

Gyro had a conspiratorial smirk on his beak, his eyes falling on a second distressed flyer — his preferred target of choice since young. "I suppose you _are_ right…" he said dismissively, the flyer loosening his shoulders as he spun his feet around and whirled onto the runt of the litter. "After all, we have _Petrie_ to thank for us being here to witness this whole debacle, don't we?"

Petrie frowned at Gyro's assessment, gripping even tighter onto the object that he was currently clutching in his wing once all eyes squarely fell on him at Gyro's behest. Despite his personal grievances when it came to Gyro in particular, Petrie could not deny that in this instance it really _was_ entirely his fault that the flyer siblings had stumbled onto their mother at all in the first place.

It had all started when Petrie had groggily snapped his eyes up open from a bad sleep story. Yawning and getting to his feet in an attempt to stumble his way over to his mother and have her console him to sleep as it wasn't quite morning just yet, Petrie was quickly jolted wide awake when he saw her not fast asleep, but instead apprehensively taking flight with shifty eyes.

_His curiosity now very much piqued, Petrie immediately shook Gryphon awake, choosing him as the khaki-brown flyer was the one who Petrie had bonded the closest to after the Day of the Flyers. "Gryphon… Gryphon! Wake up!"_

"_Petrie…?!" Gryphon vigorously rubbed his reddened eyes, glaring at Petrie when he craned his neck out of the nest and found himself greeted by a twilight sky. "Hey, what gives? The Bright Circle isn't even up yet! Did Gyro put you up to some kind of prank? Why didn't you let me sleep in?"_

"_Something weird going on with momma! Me just saw her leave nest, Gryphon! Petrie no know what happening!"_

_Being a member of the gang infamous for their wild and wacky adventures, Petrie was the one who was most willing to snoop out of all his brothers and sisters, in spite of his constant paranoia. And while his siblings were much more well-behaved when it came to this, it was still a moot point in the end because being less willing to snoop than their inquisitive brother did not necessarily imply that they themselves were not willing to snoop _at all_._

_Once Gryphon realized the full scope of the situation, he took to the task of waking up the remainder of their dazed and sleepy siblings. Meanwhile, Petrie strained his eyes in the dim lighting, training his eyes to acclimatize to the darkness so that he could focus on the slightest movement._

_There!_

_He licked his beak with triumph when he managed to catch a glimpse of what was undoubtedly his mother in the distance, appearing as a shadowy moving speck against the midnight backdrop of the starry skies. Despite his mother's dark blue color almost letting her camouflage with the skies, the sharp vision of their kind betrayed her location. From the general direction she was flying in, it appeared as though she was headed for the river._

_Petrie stretched his stiff wings, preparing himself for takeoff when he suddenly noticed that he still had his snuggling stick in his possession. He had held on to it out of habitual instinct, carrying it in his wing from the moment he had awakened all the way to the edge of the nest and only just realizing his mistake when he needed to use both wings to fly._

_Unwilling to drag his feet back to his sleeping spot to tuck his precious snuggling stick snugly away lest some of his more awful siblings got ahold of it, and also afraid to lose sight of his mother if he looked away, Petrie realized that he had no choice but to carry it with him out of the nest. Tapping the stick against the ground to get Gryphon's attention so that his brother could follow him once he completed the task of waking the rest of the nest up, Petrie then used his beak to bite down on the piece of wood, freeing up his wings and allowing him to subtly follow behind his mother in pursuit._

But of all the things Petrie could have expected from his mother's surreptitious morning flight, he didn't expect _this_. His mother had never divulged much about their father, let alone ever go into detail about his father's fate. She was very tight-beaked about the topic… to this day, none of the flyer children had even managed to pry their father's name from her.

As a result, to have all this information drop into their laps was completely unexpected to them. It felt like a fast runner had sucker-punched them from out of nowhere before darting away just as swiftly.

Speaking of fast runners…

"_My daddy used to tell me that every new day is like an adventure, because a new day tomorrow means that you will always have something new to experience compared to the previous day!"_

Petrie could practically hear one of Ruby's eccentric wisdoms as he met Gyro's mocking eyes.

This was _some_ new adventure, alright. And unlike what the other members of the gang would tell him, he couldn't just tackle this one head-on and hope for the best.

His brother had been right this time in proclaiming him to be the one responsible for causing them all to learn about their dad's fate — Petrie sure hadn't expected for his early morning flight to lead into such a revelation. He darted his eyes back and forth between his siblings, each of his brothers and sisters having a myriad of varying looks on their faces to the revelation about their absent father that ranged from weary, angry, and even resigned.

Clearly, they hadn't quite expected something like this either. And as for his own reaction to hearing the startling news…

"Hey, Petrie!" Gyro's grating voice forced Petrie out of his thoughts. "You are responsible for this, are you not?" he pressed, "Don't tell me you're going to feign ignorance and act dumb again!"

"Yeah… like you always do, Petrie!" Roll sneered, the sassiest of his sisters one to quickly take advantage and seize any opportunity to capitalize upon the slightest moment of weakness from anyone who she wanted to trample on… which in her eyes was basically everyone save for the fiendish Gyro, her trusty partner-in-crime due to the siblings' relatively similar mindsets.

While Petrie did take offense to the two biggest troublemakers ganging up on him, he decided not to entertain them with an outburst. Holding his snuggling stick in a vice grip, he sucked in a deep breath and muttered back a neutral response. "It not Petrie fault Mom be careless and talk about Dad! Me know Ducky listen to things she no suppose hear before!"

_Swoosh!_

Gyro's beak was halfway to Petrie's face, feigning a jab with it as a threat display. Even despite the fact that they were leaf-eater flyers and lacked the really brutal talon claws and sharpened teeth that were synonymous with sharpbeaks, even a rounded beak could still leave behind nasty bruises if one pecked forcefully with it.

The swift movement caused Petrie to instinctively flinch, squeezing his eyes shut as he expected a blow. "Eeeek… huh?"

Not feeling anything connecting with his face, Petrie hesitantly opened his eyes before glaring at Gyro when he saw that his brother had stopped short of hitting him, knowing with a sinking feeling that he'd been tricked into showing weakness again. "Grr… Gyro, you big meanie!" he snapped, losing his composure as Gyro backed away with a cackle.

"Only Gyro? What about me?" Roll taunted. "I'm hurt that you don't consider me on that level as well," she lamented sarcastically.

"You just as mean to Petrie, Roll! You and Gyro always pick on me!"

Roll shrugged. "Well, guilty as charged. I won't deny it," she stated plainly.

"And it just occurred to me, this argument isn't just two against one… it's two against two!" Gyro added, capitalizing on his sister's words. "I heard you talk to that thing you're concealing behind your back before, so I'll amuse you by counting it as 'someone'," he smirked as Petrie unsuccessfully tried to hide his snuggling stick.

Roll giggled at Petrie's futile attempt to save face. "True, true. Petrie probably needs that dumb stick as his solitary form of support to even stand a chance of arguing against you, brother. And you know why? It's because except for his weird friends, no one else is on Petrie's side to defend him!"

Petrie jerked upright. "Hey! No talk bad about me good friends, Roll!"

Roll had a hearty smirk on her face as she proceeded to taunt Petrie in a singsong-like manner. "Aw, did we make you mad? You and your precious little friends are all you have, anyway! Crying to swimmers like Ducky are the only reason you even found some form of acceptance. But they aren't flyers and know nothing about our culture, so they'll never know just how much of a loser you really are to us!"

"Ohhhh…" Petrie seethed, his digits tightening on his snuggling stick.

Gyro cackled as he saw Petrie shaking. "Holding on to that stupid twig you use to cry yourself to sleep, scaredy egg? I can't believe you still need something like that for support!"

Despite his meek demeanor, Petrie saw red at Gyro's callous jeers, almost about to jump over and throttle the living daylights out of him. The prospect of taking his snuggling stick and smacking Gyro's beak shut with it was sorely tempting. If he didn't shut his eyes and take in a sharp breath, chances are that he would have done just that.

_Yes… me need calm down. Gyro doing this on purpose. If Petrie be mad at his words he win! No be angry at—_

"Mom's memories made Dad sound as though he was a total wimp… guess that's where you inherited that lame trait from, Petrie! You're just like him, you freaking loser!"

Despite Petrie's normally meek demeanor, something within the flyer snapped at Gyro's curt judgement. He reacted viscerally, rounding onto his older brother. "Y-y… you!" he sputtered.

"Ugh, I can't believe that someone like you is related to me at times… you are such a colossal embarrassment!" Roll said, "You're almost ten already, Petrie, so quit sniveling like a hatchling," she jeered before letting out an exaggerated gasp, dramatically holding a wing up to her beak. "Oh, wait… you _are_ no better than one!"

Not paying close attention to the effect this was having on Petrie, a distracted Yaw carelessly agreed from an outsider's point of view. "It is true that you are quite childish for your age. The Time of Great Growing is almost upon us all. We're going to be grown-ups soon, so when will you grow up instead of constantly acting like a childish brat?"

Gyro grinned malevolently, capitalizing upon his older brother's lapse of judgement like an opportunistic sharptooth sinking their teeth into their helpless prey. "Maybe you never will grow up. Just like Dad," he flashed a sinister smirk at Petrie, making the insinuation very clear.

It was at this where the other two siblings finally reacted as well, having been too absorbed in their inner thoughts about their father to step in prior.

"What the—" Gryphon almost swore in response to the crass remark, the flyer biting down on his beak to cut himself short before he said something he regretted. "Gyro! That's too far, brother!"

"Yeah! Don't put words in my beak!" Yaw held both his wings out in a placative manner. "Oi, Petrie! What Gyro said earlier is not what I meant in the slightest! He's flippin' exaggerating!" he hastily backtracked.

Completing ignoring the increasingly wary expressions plastered on his siblings' faces, Gyro continued on his verbal onslaught, marching up to Petrie with a cocky strut. "You don't really believe what Yaw or Gryphon is saying, do you Petrie?" His smile grew wider when he saw Petrie visibly reacting, "Of course we're out to get you! What Mom just revealed proves beyond a shadow of a doubt what I've suspected about you ever since we were hatchlings!"

Petrie found himself slowly backing away, but his older brother followed him, making sure to match every pace he took. The tension in the air was almost palpable as the flyer siblings stared at each other.

"Oi, Gyro!" Gryphon snapped, tersely breaking the silent and now heavy atmosphere. "Don't be such a creak in the neck! Apologize to Petrie!"

Gyro snorted, his face contorting in visible outrage at the very idea. "You're joking. Why should someone like me apologize to a failure like Petrie?"

"Yeah, why should he? Gyro is just openly stating truths and facts," Roll argued, "Petrie's just too much of a softie to accept that this world isn't a beautiful haven of nice opinions because he's too easily insulted by the truth."

Petrie clutched onto his snuggling stick, holding it close to his beak. "S-Stop it…" he mumbled, trying to drown out the hurting words.

"As I was saying, there _is_ an inherent reason behind why you always were such a lame loser, and now it's clear as day to me!" Gyro gestured to Petrie accusingly, a wily gleam in his eye. "It's because you take after our father, Petrie! Our useless father who was never there for us, all because he was such a failure!"

"Wait!" Pitch shouted, the eldest sibling trying to mediate and be the voice of reason in what was rapidly becoming a chaotic situation.

"You have to calm down, Petrie!" Gryphon pleaded, clasping his wings together. "Don't listen to him!"

However, all the valiant attempts to de-escalate the situation ultimately proved to be futile with Gyro's next sneer.

"You should never have been hatched, Petrie! Because you're nothing but a failure, exactly like Dad was!"

His blunt declaration led to complete pandemonium.

"Gyro!"

"Did you really just—"

"Everyone chill out for one moment!"

"Yeah, it wasn't that bad!"

"Hey! You're making things even worse, Roll!"

"That's right. Man, you're such a b—"

"Everyone, stop arguing!" Gryphon's shrill cry cut everyone off. "Look… Petrie's fleeing for it!"

All heads turned towards Gryphon, who was frantically pointing to a sobbing Petrie darting away on foot.

"Petrie!"

There was a scuffle of feet and wings as Gryphon chased after his younger brother, flanked by his eldest siblings. Only Gyro and Roll were left behind in the clearing, the middle siblings locking eyes with each other.

"Told you he was too emotional," said Roll.

Gyro raised an eyebrow indignantly. "Good riddance huh, sis?"

Meanwhile, the three siblings who actually somewhat cared about Petrie's well-being chased after their brother. However, the head start that Petrie had on them gave him a rather solid early advantage.

"Dang, we lost him!" Yaw grumbled, flapping his wings to get airborne and straining his eyes to try and spot Petrie. Unfortunately for him, the gloomy weather did not assist in visibility at all.

"Because he ran into the treestar bushes to throw you off, duh," Pitch replied from the sky, before shouting down at Gryphon. "How are things from the ground?"

The khaki flyer rushed through the undergrowth, trying to follow Petrie's footprints. "He went to your right!" he shouted skywards, pushing through a sweet berry shrub.

_Whoosh!_

Gryphon jerked his head in the direction of the noise, before looking down and noticing that the fresh trail of footprints ended right there.

There was only one conclusion he could draw from this — Petrie must have quit running and taken flight in an entirely new direction. His sneaky, sneaky brother! He was attempting to use the trees as cover to throw them off course when he changed his bearing.

Gryphon yelled at his siblings as he ran in the sound of the voice, shouting as loud as he could since the treetop canopy was obscuring his view of Yaw and Pitch and he couldn't make visual contact with them. "Yaw, Pitch! Petrie changed directions! He's headed to your left!"

"Roger!"

"Copy that!"

Running in a jiffy, Gryphon only slowed when he saw an open clearing in the middle of all the trees in the direction from where the sound had come from. Petrie wasn't the most athletic, so he highly suspected that his younger brother must be catching his breath here.

"Alright, brother," he started, walking into the clearing. "Let's stop this all of this and head back to the nes… eh?!"

He could only blink his eyes as he trailed off, staring at the barren area.

Petrie wasn't there at all.

"Good going, Gryphon," Yaw snarked, slowly clapping his hands together as he perched on a branch, "You lost him."

Pitch descended, a thoughtful look in her eyes. "So it would seem."

Yaw grunted, annoyed. "Peh. That Petrie caught a lucky break. I take it that he is probably seeking refuge with his friends as we speak?"

"I don't think so…" Pitch sighed, shaking her head. "That would be far too obvious…"

There was silence as the three flyers contemplated their sticky situation.

"So…" Gryphon hesitantly raised a wing, looking sullenly at the remaining siblings who were on the saner and less malicious end of the spectrum, "…who's gonna tell Mom?"

Yaw groaned, rubbing his temples. "It doesn't even matter which of us is the one who breaks the news to her. Mom's going to ground us so hard regardless…" he lamented.

"But we didn't do anything!" Gryphon complained, glowering at his older brother despite knowing that Yaw's prediction would likely come to pass.

"That is exactly why the rest of us should now collectively agree to disavow all knowledge of this and throw Gyro and Roll under the sharptooth when Mom finds out about Petrie!" Yaw insisted, shrewdly rubbing his wings together. "At least we three can stay out of trouble this way."

"Are you actually making this whole thing all about you? What about your conscience?" Gryphon spat, glaring daggers at his eldest brother. "We're all responsible for Petrie's outburst!"

"You think I'm gonna lose my flying rights for something like this?" Yaw raised his voice to a dangerous tone, matching Gryphon's stare. "It's Gyro and Roll that pushed Petrie over the edge! I'm not going to be a scapegoat by association. I might have passively made a comment that peeved Petrie off, but those two _actively_ did it!"

"Calm down, both of you. Being hot-headed will lead to irrational decisions. Let cooler heads prevail, alright?" Pitch quickly stepped in and broke them up before yet another fight could start. "You both have valid points," she said slowly, treading carefully with her words. "On one hand, because we are Petrie's older siblings, it is almost a guarantee that Mom is going to punish us even if we're bystanders for not stopping things when we could, even if the punishment itself is mitigated."

She then side-eyed Gyro and Roll through the lush vegetation, her two younger siblings still nonchalantly chatting away with each other in the distance as though everything was perfectly fine. "On the _other_ hand, those two started this whole mess and exacerbated it to an entirely new level, so they can certainly fend for themselves when Mom grinds them hard about why Petrie disappeared…"

Yaw let out a humph, folding his wings in response. "So there's no getting out of trouble now that Petrie's flown the coop, huh?" he clicked his beak, his tense body loosening up as the stubborn flyer finally relented. "Fine then, but I call dibs on selling my two younger siblings out as the perpetrators who had pushed Petrie over the edge, Pitch! If I'm going to be forced to suffer through the indignity of getting punished over something that wasn't even really my fault, the very least I can do is drag Gyro and Pitch down with me!"

Pitch groaned as Yaw left the premises through the air, Gryphon following suit. Just as she herself was about to leave, Pitch felt an obstruction by her feet. As she glanced down, she felt her blood run cold at what she saw.

Brown against the murky green blades of grass.

Though she picked the object up to make sure, there could be no mistaking what it really was, especially after she'd heard Gyro, Roll, and even occasionally Yaw mocking her youngest brother for adamantly keeping it in his possession despite his age.

What she had with her was Petrie's snuggling stick.

A horrified Pitch realized then that unlike what Yaw had thought, it wasn't just luck or coincidence that Petrie had got away from them. It was all planned — perhaps in the spur of the moment, but planned nevertheless. The events playing out in this way had been what Petrie was aiming for from the moment he turned tail and tried to run away.

She quickened her pace, her surroundings a blur of green at the speed she was running. When she exited the forest, she immediately called out to her younger sister. "Roll!"

Roll glanced up. "Yes?"

"Did you see Petrie!?"

"Humph! Yeah, I did," Roll yawned as she answered, before continuing haughtily. "He backtracked out of the trees in the same direction he entered. Dumb flyer must have run in there to cry before making a U-turn. Oh, and he tried to intimidate us with a glare after he reappeared, but it didn't work."

Pitch felt her heart drop. This was _not_ good. "And then?" she prodded, a tinge of urgency creeping into her voice. "Did Gyro or you stop him?"

"For what?" Roll retorted, rolling her eyes at the rhetorical question posed. "There was no reason to. Besides, I don't get why you were all chasing him to begin with. Petrie always gets overly emotional, sis," she shrugged off. "It is no big deal, he just can't take a simple joke."

Shifting her feet nervously, Pitch decided to push her luck. "So if that's the case, did he make his way back to the nest?"

"Nah. He flew over the Great Wall."

"T-The Great Wall? You're telling me that Petrie went out into the Mysterious Beyond!?"

"Yeah. He's probably crying his eyes out there or something. Overly emotional wimp, that Petrie."

Pitch closed her eyes mournfully, her head slumping down. "I… see. Thanks, Roll."

"Whatever, sis." Roll began to strut back in Gyro's direction. "Still don't get why you're so concerned about him," she muttered, dropping her overly sarcastic smirk for a brief instant. "He'll be fine. That flyer has crazy good luck on his side."

As Roll walk away, Pitch dragged her feet in the opposite direction, glancing at the twig she was carrying in her wing.

Petrie's twig. Or snuggling stick, but the term didn't make a difference.

It was just as she thought. There was no way that Petrie could outmaneuver three watchful eyes just by sheer luck alone.

So he had done so deliberately.

By taking advantage of the fragile tension to let his brothers and sisters duke it out tumultuously, they had fallen into the trap of shamelessly dallying around because they were too busy distracted by arguing with each other. Only when all the arguments between them had simmered down at Gryphon's observant alert that Petrie's true intent of buying enough time for himself to disappear into thin air as they fought with one another became clear. He must have wanted to ditch them at some point when Gyro was antagonizing him, and had gained valuable time by using their tendency of clashing to his advantage.

And when Petrie was making his getaway, he had tricked his pursuers yet again. The sound that Gryphon had heard wasn't Petrie, but instead the snuggling stick. The stick was a red herring deliberately meant to lure them away, and it had definitely succeeded in that aspect. That was why he had run into the clearing to start with before backtracking on foot after she, Yaw, and Gryphon had fallen into his trap. Petrie must have also known that Gyro and Pitch wouldn't have stopped him, because really… why _would_ they?

They had all been played for fools… Petrie knew their characters better than he let on, and the scheming flyer let out his inner wily Gyro by playing on their expected reactions to escape from under their beaks.

Pitch grimaced. Not only had Petrie tricked them all, the determined expression of defiance that she had spied on his face while Gyro was instigating him earlier suggested that Petrie was already planning on ditching his brothers and sisters right then and there. She had only seen that determined look on Petrie's face a few times before, and when she did it usually involved something he was passionate about, such as his close friends.

But since Petrie's friends had nothing to do with it this time, there was only one possible explanation for his behavior that came to mind.

The more Pitch thought about it, the more she could feel her legs growing weak. She leaned across the trunk of a nearby tree for support, feeling faint at the dawning realization that hit her.

If Gyro's words were what had infuriated Petrie, and her brother had flown over the Great Wall without even consulting his friends…

As the treestars on the branches began to rustle, a worried Pitch peered up to the forebodingly darkened sky.

_Don't tell me you decided to head for Weathered Gorge…_

…_did you, brother?_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Writing about Petrie family antics as his siblings gang up on him ala what happened in _The Great Day of the Flyers_? Feels like I literally became DiddyKF1 there, sorry bud. :)

Pitch, Yaw, Roll, Gyro, and Gryphon are my personal names for Petrie's many unnamed and otherwise unremarkable siblings, first used in _Waves Crashing Upon the Sky_. And since I haven't written about them directly putting Petrie down in person and making him feel bad in that story yet due to arc fatigue, I decided to get some practice in for the inevitable in this chapter. These set of scenes ended up being far longer than I expected, and is in fact a contributing factor as to why I split the prompt up to begin with — almost 8,000 words in and the journey (the whole point of the prompt) has _just_ started. That pacing would be troublesome for a one-shot, hence the split.

…

**Keijo6:** As I mentioned once before, I haven't read Starlight, but _The Pursuit of Endless Day_ and _One Fallen, Two Torn Apart_ were two inspirations which led to me trying to focus on Petrie in this fic, so I understand if this seems a bit more of a retread than what I normally do. What happened in the prior chapter personally isn't my favored take about what went down with Petrie's father, but it does work out for the context of this story. Still, I'm glad that you think the fic premise is strong despite similar themes.

**Anagnos:** The opening is indeed foreboding, and what you felt was the feeling of unease and suspense I wanted to capture. And yes, I wholly agree that some of the characters don't get a chance to shine and hence even exploring a probable backstory would give them much more depth. I supposed it was inevitable that someone noticed the rapidly shifting past & present perspective, and that was because the prologue originally wasn't supposed to show Skylar reminiscing until after the flashback had ended, but my opening paragraph caused me to fumble since I happened to require a lead-in to the flashback, thus me being forced to hastily switch back-and-forth in the final draft.

**Rhombus:** You are right to point out that the incident did appear to have a major impact on her psyche, and there will be some facets of Petrie's relationship (or lack thereof) with his mother and father that will be explored in the coming chapters now some that harsh comparisons have been drawn, so you can look forward to that when the fic puts Petrie in the limelight. As for the death scene, my goal was indeed to capture the peril of seeing a loved one perish while not dwelling on the emotions as it is currently but an impersonal flashback, so I'm pleased to hear that it turned out satisfactorily.


	3. Weathering Weathered Gorge

**Chapter 3: Weathering Weathered Gorge**

Flip, flap, and fly.

Those were the only things that a perturbed Petrie found himself doing ad infinitum as he rode an updraft of warm air, the walls of the valley already far behind him as he soared across the Mysterious Beyond.

Up here, it was only him and the skies. No one could interrupt Petrie as he continued to stew over his brother's words.

_"You should never have been hatched, Petrie! Because you're nothing but a failure, exactly like Dad was!"_

Petrie had to repeatedly blink his eyelids to halt the onset of tears that were brimming at the corner of his eye and threatening to fall, the flyer restlessly keeping his gaze firmly on the desert below him.

No, he couldn't cry now… he was better than that.

Besides, if he lost control of his emotions while he was flying in the sky, the blurry tears trickling down his cheeks would surely impede his vision and force Petrie to roost down in the dangerous Mysterious Beyond below so that he can clear his eyes, as trying to fly without optimal eyesight was practically suicide for a flyer.

It went without saying that after surviving countless harrowing chases where he had nearly ended up as a sharptooth meal, Petrie had learnt that he was _far_ safer in the air than on the ground, and thus he preferred to avoid being forced into that predicament in the first place by simply using his wings.

Sniffing to clear his nose in an attempt to try and better control his emotions, Petrie brought his mind back in check by dwelling on his harrowing escape from his siblings.

_Panting heavily, Petrie stopped behind a bush to catch his breath, only to hear an exchange of words from nearby that made him shiver with fright._

_"How are things from the ground?"_

_"He went to your right!"_

_Petrie swallowed, his throat going dry._

_This was _so_ not good._

_Gryphon was a decent tracker, and his brother was almost right on top of him. With his eldest two siblings assisting by staying in an arc-like formation above, it was apparent to Petrie that his pursuers were—rather cleverly—trying to encircle him from both land and sky to ensure that he couldn't get away._

_No, he couldn't let himself get caught like this. Petrie gritted his teeth, fervently tightening his grip on his snuggling stick._

_Wait… his snuggling stick!_

_His eyes brightened as he realized that this was exactly the breakthrough he needed. With a calculated aim, he fondly looked at it for just a moment before flicking the object as far away horizontally from him as he could, holding his breath when he heard it clack against the trunk of a tree. The sound made by the impact was relatively soft, but deep within the maze-like vegetation with trees and shrubs that surrounded him everywhere, it felt almost as loud and disruptive as the roar of a vicious sharptooth._

_This had to work. It was his only shot._

_'Go on, Gryphon!' he anxiously prodded in his heart, 'Chase after me snuggling stick, no chase after Petrie!'_

_The sigh of relief that Petrie exhaled when he heard Gryphon's next words was an audible one, despite his best attempts to suppress it so that he wouldn't give himself away._

_"Yaw, Pitch! Petrie changed directions! He's headed to your left!"_

_When he heard Gryphon's footsteps heading away, Petrie slowly and carefully began flapping his wings when he was certain that the coast was clear._

_'Me sorry Gryphon,' he thought, feeling a sting in his heart at tricking the sibling who he was the closest to, 'but Petrie need get away from all brothers and sisters! Me mad at everyone now!'_

_Getting airborne to avoid making any footprints was merely the first step. Petrie couldn't just directly fly out of the canopy in case Yaw and Pitch remained above and spotted him emerging from the treetops, so he had to chance a low-level flight that had multiple obstacles in his path. While he would normally take such a flight slowly and steadily, in this instance he had to be quick as they probably wouldn't be fooled by his trick for long. Furthermore, he also needed to take special care in keeping his flight silent so as to not alert his three siblings as he wafted through the thick vegetation._

_To put it bluntly, it was not an easy flight for him to make._

_By using the fresh footprints he'd made on the ground as a guide, Petrie eventually managed to forage his way through the cluster of trees by heading in the opposite direction of the path that he had used while venturing in. It was, after all, the last direction Gryphon and the others would expect him to go._

_Right as he exited the vegetation after having countless near misses with multiple different branches and trees, Petrie came face-to-face with a cackling Gyro and Roll. Meeting his siblings' eyes as the two flyers appeared surprised at his abrupt appearance, he wordlessly took to the gray skies above before they could even say or do anything._

And that was how he had ended up here, flying away from his safe haven in the valley and risking himself to chase after ghosts from a time long past. Gyro calling him a failure and drawing comparisons to his father was simply the tipping point.

The worst part of his brother's callous remark was the fact that while Gyro would often torment his younger brother with unwarranted and unsubstantiated critiques, this specific one was candid and held some truth in it, thus hitting his personal insecurities and self-worth right on the mark. Because of that, he couldn't just shake it away as simply another random and unsubstantiated belittling insult when it held a nugget of truth to it.

_"It's because you take after our father, Petrie! Our useless father who was never there for us, all because he was such a failure!"_

Because he was such a failure…

There was a reason that those words had such a profound effect on him. Gyro had made the comparison out of a sense of personal spite this time, the pure malice discernible in his voice as he drew the similarities between the brother he disliked, and the missing father who he yearned for yet despised. There wasn't a single one of his brothers or sisters who could deny that their father was never there for them, and not even Petrie was able to defend this.

It was a fact, and even as a hatchling, Petrie could recall that his mother had always looked downcast whenever the topic was brought up.

_"Where's daddy, momma?"_

_"He's… uh, um… let's drop this, okay, Petrie?"_

Even before he learnt what had actually happened, there were enough contextual clues lying around for him to slowly cobble things together. Despite his young age, Petrie was able to tell from his mom's stiff posture and somber tone that something terrible must have happened to his father.

…but in a sense, now that Gyro had noted just how similar they both were in an uncanny sense, Petrie couldn't help but to resent his father.

Where was he when Petrie needed him? If they were both so alike, why did he have to die and leave his youngest son alone, without any guidance and support when he so desperately needed it when his older siblings were picking on him?

Life just wasn't fair sometimes…

Petrie hardened his eyes, focusing back on his flight when he saw a brownish speck appearing on the horizon.

Dull brown, just like his snuggling stick.

His coping mechanism… or well, _was_ his coping mechanism.

Ditching it was a necessary sacrifice for him so that he could undertake the journey of a lifetime, although unlike one might expect, throwing his siblings off his trail wasn't the only factor that had led to Petrie deciding to cast aside his snuggling stick.

Petrie could distinctly recall the sense of empowerment that he felt swelling within him when he relinquished his snuggling stick. From just that one gesture alone, it felt like he was casting away his old cowardly, wimpy self — the flyer who had always been dependent and a general burden on others. And by making the choice of throwing away something that was a part of him for so long and choosing to venture out of his comfort zone, the act was very much a symbolic one — testament to an improved and grown-up Petrie being reborn from the ashes.

From as young as Petrie was able to recall, he had always been singled out and ostracized, first for his fear and inability to fly despite his species, and after he had gotten over that, a fear of things in general. Leaving his snuggling stick behind denoted the exact moment where the flyer decided that he would no longer be the childish Petrie that everyone had pushed around.

And when Petrie said everyone, he literally meant _everyone_. He could casually list out an entire group of dinosaurs which may or may not be larger than the entire population of the valley.

Gyro and Roll.

Yaw and Pitch whenever they were agitated.

Gryphon before he had reformed and repented after seeing Petrie's performance during the Day of the Flyers.

Hyp and his two cronies whenever they relapsed back into their old ways.

The grown-ups whenever they were being stubborn, _especially_ Cera's father.

And speaking of Cera, even his friends weren't immune from this. As a prideful threehorn, a mad Cera was a prime example of someone who dissed him from time to time, but even sweet Ducky had gotten agitated with him before and made attempts in the past to persuasively coerce him into things that he would normally abstain from through the use of her cute little aqua-blue eyes… curse those adorable eyes, they were far too potent when it came to breaking down his defenses.

Well, no more of that. He wasn't going to be a helpless punching bag who was oh-so-easily pushed around any longer.

He simply _refused_.

That cowardly flyer he once was would no longer be bound to the ghosts of the past. He was a new flyer now, one who would stand firm and forge his own path.

And what better way to uphold himself to a new standard of bravery than by tackling a journey that would surely earn him the respect he rightfully deserved?

Well, this time around the credit would indisputably be his. There was no one else to take credit for his successful endeavor, as when it came to the gang, the successful end of a risky adventure could usually be accredited to Littlefoot… maybe Ruby at times.

Other than that, he was just there. A spectator for all the adventuring, and when Petrie said that he was a spectator he quite literally meant spectating… to be more precise, spectating from the air. The whole thing could be encapsulated with a single remark which Ducky had first mentioned many Cold Times ago, before it wound up being repeated by his friends whenever they needed his aerial aid.

_"Use your wings, Petrie!"_

That was all he was ever useful for — purely minor stuff. It mainly entailed him keeping a lookout while staying out of danger by using his wings to stay airborne whenever they were in unfamiliar territory, and in less strenuous situations, occasionally earning his team the game point in a game of Pointy Seed… or really, any game where being a flyer allowed him an advantage due to his stellar eyesight and aerial maneuverability.

Although his heart knew it wasn't true, Gyro's cruel proclamation in stating that he was indeed nothing but a failure truly stung. All those failed memories and botchups were a vicious cycle, perpetuating a negative confirmation bias in his head by constantly reaffirming it.

Even one of the few accomplishments that Petrie could truly say has affected numerous others positively—the joy of showing everyone that flying with their own personal style on the Day of the Flyers was alright—ended up smirched by the fact that it wasn't all that important in the long run. The Day of the Flyers was not a common occurrence, after all.

This, however, would be a completely different story. Attaining success here _would_ have a lasting impact.

He whistled tunelessly when the landmark in the distance slowly got larger, now no longer the size of a grain of sand in his vision.

"_But at least now I would never forget where that accursed mountain range is located… near where the Land of Mists is in present day, towards the direction where the Bright Circle rises from the ground."_

Petrie had been part of an adventure to the Land of Mists long ago at Ali's behest. This was when Littlefoot's grandfather had fallen ill and their headstrong leader had decided to make it off without them because he felt like he had to undertake the journey alone, almost a mirror of what Petrie was doing to them right now.

The resulting adventure to find the healing Night Flowers was one of the most memorable ones for him. Although it had been many Cold Times after he and his friends had made the journey, Petrie could still vividly remember the route that he took to get to the swampy marsh that was the Land of Mists.

As a result, he could easily locate the place his mother had talked about from the directions that she'd unknowingly given him.

Sure enough, there it was in the distance, passively surrounded by dark sky puffies.

Weathered Gorge.

The rocky canyon that had claimed his father's life stood tall in all its majesty, swathed in a dull brown that downplayed the gorge's fearsome reputation.

Petrie wordlessly looked at the large looming structure as he drew closer. The flyer had made up his mind from the moment he snapped at his siblings back at the valley. This adventure would finally settle that nagging doubt in his mind once and for all.

Would he falter as his dad did almost ten Cold Times ago, or will he finally outdo his father and prove all those doubters and naysayers wrong… including his treacherous heart?

It was pertinent that he found out the answer, no matter what it may be.

And there was only one way to do it.

By succeeding where his father had failed.

If Petrie could replicate his Dad's final journey at Weathered Gorge and triumph over it, he would finally be able to settle things, once and for all. Once he conquered and vanquished Weathered Gorge, even his self-critical mind would see the light.

This wasn't pure hastiness speaking — Petrie _knew_ that he could do it. He and the gang had successfully made it through multiple adventures together, exploring all sorts of wildly dangerous places throughout the Mysterious Beyond. Really, what was one more forbidden place being added to the tally?

_Me friends always go dangerous and scary places, _he thought with a tired smile_. Even if me no go this place now, Littlefoot probably drag me here someday!_

The point was, a hardy Petrie was confident that he could best the 'supposedly dangerous' place that had claimed his father's life.

He was not a failure… he was _not_ his father!

Who was he to be labelled and called names simply for being his father's son? It didn't seem right that someone who Petrie didn't even know had been indirectly responsible for all the pain and suffering that he was forced to endure throughout his entire childhood.

In a way, his father was the very reason as to why he was a coward… he had shaped Petrie's very personality.

The similarities tore at him. Why did he have to be the treestar who fell so close to the withered tree while everyone else weren't like their father at all? Why couldn't he be more like his brothers and sisters? They were outgoing, calm, and adept when it came to their flying abilities and attitudes, and they clearly hadn't inherited those traits from their father!

Well, no more of that! He had had _enough_.

This was his chance to prove his bravado!

No one would be by his side giving him grief this time. He would be without his family, without his friends, without any support.

It was just him and his trusty wings.

And that, Petrie decided, was really all he needed.

Nothing else.

Weathered Gorge was his for the taking, and with a successful pass through it he could finally quash all the insecurity and comparisons between him and his father.

As he got closer, he could see that the rock face went sprawling skywards. He took special care to be pedantic, scrutinizing and analyzing every last detail of the landmark.

This was it. No time for him to be scared. That time had long passed.

Now, it was time for Petrie to prove himself to everyone who doubted him.

"Hear me voice, Weathered Gorge!" he orated, his determined voice reverberating loudly. "You got me Dad, but you no can get Petrie today! Me gonna beat you, me swear it!"

Only as he descended did Petrie appreciate just how massive Weathered Gorge truly was. The twin plateaus towered over him on both sides as he entered the deep ravine. He shivered as he flew, his eyes darting between the red cliff face surrounding him from his left and right. Taking in a deep breath, he suppressed the edge to hyperventilate as he angled his wings slightly down to reduce drag and began diving down so that he could pick up speed.

_No let rock wall stop Petrie! It no like they going close in on Petrie! Me no can be scared… me need do this! Petrie need get through Weathered Gorge!_

Sucking in a deep breath, he pitched forward and gained speed, diving further down into the middle of the canyon that snaked across the two plateaus on both sides. Though he found it claustrophobic to find himself being surrounded by solid rock that he would smash into if he went off course by veering left or right, Petrie fought down the urge to take off into the open sky above him.

His father had apparently taken this route right down the middle, and so would Petrie! The young flyer was going to follow his parent's footsteps, right to the very end!

…minus the demise part, of course. Petrie had no interest of ending up as a corpse by embarking on a suicide mission. This was merely just a prove-them-wrong grudge challenge.

Once he slowly calmed down, things actually appeared fairly normal for a while. Petrie found that he was just flying along the ravine, occasionally changing direction as the valley walls snaked.

In fact, he found himself being disappointed. The entire locale seemed deserted, with nothing out of the ordinary at all. A suspicious Petrie even craned his eyes, only to find that there were no obvious signs of any hidden predators either.

The sound of his flapping wings and the soft wind in his face was the only dissonance that broke the eerie silence. Otherwise, nothing.

Seriously, was this it?

Petrie didn't get it at all. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. From the way his mom had hyped it up, he had expected himself to be flying towards some semblance of danger at the very least. Instead, he found himself greeted by the sight of a mountainous ravine that was completely deserted.

The flyer had to suppress a chortle. Some of the crazy shenanigans and sharptooth chases that took place when he had gotten caught up in an adventure with the gang were more hazardous and deadly than this place. This was the place where his father had perished? From a few of his mother's tearful wracks and sobs, Petrie knew that his Dad had wound up being impaled on the sharp rocks, but he didn't have any details.

How had that even happened? An aerial display went wrong? Spiraling out of control? Not pay attention to where he was flying and smashing his face into the cliff at full speed?

Petrie scoffed, a grin lighting up his face as more and more incredibly outlandish scenarios of his father's demise played out in his mind. It appeared that all counts of Weathered Gorge's so-called fearsome reputation were greatly exaggerated, as everything his mind pointed to suggested that his father had likely impaled himself due to his own carelessness.

Well, he for one wasn't going to complain if the difficulty of the journey turned out to be nothing but hyperbole, as the difficulty of the flight being barely more than a breeze was to his secret advantage. Let everyone think what they wanted to think, as it was the reputation that would prop up his achievement in the end. If his mom had unintentionally made Weathered Gorge out to be this terrifying place, no one was going to doubt it or challenge the existing notion that had been painted into their minds even if it turned out to be false in hindsight.

In fact, that misconception made things all the easier. Petrie could feel his tense muscles relaxing as he continued to venture deeper and deeper within. He could already picture the look of shock that would be on everyone's faces when he returned to the valley after completing a pass through the "fearsome" gorge successfully. He could not wait to see his most hated brother have to swallow his pride and eat crow… it would certainly serve that smug Gyro right!

…of course, that being said, he was _also_ able to picture the punishment his Mom would dole out to him for pulling such a stunt. Knowing that he would come back to his Mom chewing him out made things a little bit sour, but the satisfying sweet bubbles of his labor would far outweigh any potential penalty he received, so in this case Petrie didn't really care about scoring yet another infraction for disobeying his mother once again.

And to be fair, in this case he had already earned such an infraction when he dragged his whole family in to unintentionally listening into his mother. He was already going to end up in trouble either way—especially since he had a feeling that Gyro would squeal on him for eavesdropping—so he really had nothing to lose at this point by venturing out into the Mysterious Beyond without permission and locating Weathered Gorge for himself.

It was basically just like him defying instructions to be with the gang, except with none of his friends here for this specific adventure.

Petrie continued flying straight until he saw a sharp left bend ahead. As he turned, he glanced back and saw the wide entrance he had flown in disappear out of sight.

Things were then status quo for quite a while, an incredulous Petrie quickly becoming bored with his vision being surrounded by brown wherever he looked.

But then, after he had flown for quite a distance, he suddenly began to hear an incessant ringing in his ears that came from out of nowhere.

Only then did things started to get disconcerting.

Realizing that the howling noise that plagued his hearing was the distinct sound of strong winds which often signaled the start of a windy storm, Petrie looked up and found his beak dropping when he saw that the sky had darkened immensely.

It was only when the first drops of sky water began falling on his beak that it hit him — such strong gales always preceded a storm.

_Ack! Why storm start right now? This no good, me no have shelter here!_

Flattening his wings as the sky water began to turn into a downpour, the first doubts began to creep into Petrie's mind. However, he had grossly underestimated just how turbulent things would get.

Just as he was bemoaning his misfortune of having the Bright Circle abandon him at a time like this, the very sky itself appeared to open, summarily unleashing a deluge of sky water that was on a level and magnitude which Petrie hadn't seen ever since the Days of Rising Waters.

By this point, he was so far into Weathered Gorge that making a U-turn to escape via the way he had come in wasn't worth the effort since making a one-eighty might actually require more time to escape. It was a classic case of sunk cost fallacy — the typical "we've come so far, let's just carry on" he often heard Cera grumbling to herself whenever they were in a pickle.

Unfortunately, his wings were tied. He couldn't go back, and the dreadful weather continued to pound on him from above with a volley of falling precipitation which made it impossible for him to ascend over the cliffs. The tall bluffs at the sides of the ravine trapped him horizontally so that he couldn't veer sideways, and thus the only path that was left to Petrie for him to trudge straight ahead.

To make matters worse, the sheer vertical cliffs that encompassed and entrapped Petrie on his left and right happened to be flush vertically from the inside, providing no outcroppings or alcoves that the flyer could use for taking cover from the freak storm. Since he had nowhere to hide, his best option was simply to continue flying. Attempting to brave things out by staying stationary in one spot was something that he couldn't afford to do.

_Bang!_

The loud rumble of sky fire caused Petrie to flinch mid-flight, a startled yelp leaving his beak.

Now he _definitely_ couldn't remain stationary, especially with the horrible sky fire that would keep on flashing sporadically.

His wings were getting drenched, the torrential sky water making them wet and soggy. Petrie found that his aerodynamics were slowly being affected as he ventured deeper into the ravine, the sky water beginning to accumulate and weigh down his wings, gradually making the very act of flapping them just so he could continue to maintain level flight an increasingly growing challenge.

A drenched Petrie gnashed his upper and lower beak together in frustration as the heavy gale blew against his eyes. Buffeted by the relentless winds, he couldn't help but feel exposed.

This was supposed to be an easy flight! Why did this have to start going awry? Why was the world so keen to prove him wrong?!

Just. Why!?

Right is he was cursing his luck, Petrie let out a pained cry when he felt a glancing blow strike him across the side of his face. He swung his head around to see if he had accidentally scraped against the rocky cliffs, only to realize that even with the reduced visibility from the sky water, the bluffs were still nowhere near him.

So what had smited him, then? It wasn't sky water, that was for sure.

Well, on this occasion Petrie should have nipped his curiosity in the bud. Unfortunately, he quickly got his answer when he was bombarded by a barrage of hard objects.

It couldn't be…

And yet, there was no mistaking it this time.

_Hard water falling from sky!? What going on now?!_

Of course it got worse. Why did he expect anything less?

He squinted his eyes to avoid being pelted, his mind now fully distressed. Hard water falling out of the sky was impossible… it was the Warm Time, not the Cold Time! What was this madness?!

Now with both solid and liquid water raining down onto him, Petrie was quick to take back his earlier disappointment with regards to the level of challenge he was supposed to face. He would much rather take back the mundane conditions that he had previously enjoyed and taken for granted when he first flew into the ravine compared to this onslaught of hail that was now battering his wings incessantly.

Be careful of what you wish for, indeed.

_Me no gonna give up!_ Petrie yelled in his mind, weaving in and out of the falling hail as best as he could.

Almost as if it was amused at Petrie's valiant attempts to adamantly push forward despite the overwhelming odds against him, it was then that Weathered Gorge played a cruel trick on the flyer, crushing whatever little hope he still had left of trying to continue his flight.

Without any preamble, the weather conditions changed. All of the falling sky water dissipated in an instant. That would have been a relief for Petrie… if it hadn't given way to a harsh blizzard which blew frozen skywater synonymous with the Cold Time right into his face instead.

Not a good trade-off, not in the slightest.

Petrie faltered for a moment, losing control of his altitude and direction as he found himself assaulted by the mass precipitation of white fluff that was now pelting him relentlessly. With his visibility impaired, Petrie found himself quickly becoming disoriented, unable to even see the jagged brown cliffs surrounding him from both sides of the ravine.

That changed everything. With his vision showing nothing but white, he was basically flying blind. He now had no choice but to land on the ground—which he _also_ couldn't see because of the sudden snowstorm—as he didn't dare run the risk of flying right into the cliffside. Without any visual contact he lacked the reflexes to swerve away in time.

Since Petrie didn't fancy the idea of breaking his neck by crashing his body directly into solid rock at full speed, he slowly dropped his altitude and reduced his flying speed. The latter was easier said than done as the winds were blowing against him, so Petrie had to maintain a delicate balance to avoid being blown back as he slowed down.

Eventually, he felt himself landing on something slushy. He looked down to see that had landed on the ground, which was covered in white ground sparkles, and heaved a sigh of relief as he dragged his feet.

That relief was only momentary, however. His heart was fluttering around like a panicked flailing of a flyer who couldn't fly, and beating so hard and fast that Petrie was able to discern the palpitations in his chest. Now that he was unable to fly, Petrie felt completely vulnerable. A grounded flyer was one who was out of their innate element, very much akin to a swimmer who found themselves stranded on land.

Although Petrie spent the first five Cold Times of his life unable to fly, he had greatly developed his flying abilities since then. He was far more agile and adept in flight, and thus it tended to be more of a challenge for Petrie to walk on foot, especially today with the harsh draughts that were blowing against him.

He was certain of one thing, however. This wasn't just an ordinary storm.

It was a full-blown weather phenomenon.

And with that revelation, it had also quickly turned into a fight for his very survival.

Things were spiraling out of his control, and this, in a sense, was also an acute representation of the chaos and anarchy that embodied his life.

From the moment Petrie heard his mother's crushed laments, he had used Weathered Gorge as a scapegoat for how he had been robbed of a father and for all of his intricacies in living up to his siblings' standards.

Unfortunately, he himself did not appreciate the true nature of the gorge and had chosen to dive into the rocky bluff overconfident, confident that his tenure of past experiences with the gang and their adventures would suffice.

But this? This was a whole new level. It felt like nature itself was against him.

Only now was it clear that Gyro's entire reasoning had been wrong, and not in the way that any of them had expected. The entire basis that Gyro had used to draw up his conclusion was invalid as it was now abundantly clear that even if his father hadn't been a coward or a weakling like his older brother had inferred, the chances of Dad making it out of a storm of such magnitude was measly nevertheless.

Correlation did not necessarily equal causation. Who would have thought?

None of them had factored the possibility that it wasn't necessarily the fault of their father that led to him tragically meeting his demise, but rather the deadliness of the gorge itself was what had taken him.

As if to prove that hypothesis right, the weather then proceeded to switch itself up yet again, refusing to stay static for an extended length of time.

"Eep…" Petrie groaned, struggling to maintain his footing as the winds picked up speed. "What… happening… now…?" he sputtered, straining with effort to get each word out.

Before Petrie could say anything else, the flyer squawked when he found his body being carried up into the air like a helpless treestar.

"W-W-Whoooaaa!"

Previously, it had been sky water, then frozen hard water, and after that it was white ground sparkles.

Now, it was the wind. The sheer force of the sudden gale plunged Petrie into a steep and uncontrollable spiral up to the sky as he wildly gyrated his wings about in blind panic.

Straining to pry his eyes open as everything became a blur, Petrie let out a shriek when he realized that the trajectory of the windstorm would cause his suspended body to be hurled right towards the rocky cliffs.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Well, well, well. Weathered Gorge turned out to be a pun. Who would have thought? :p

The tone of this chapter is my not-so-subtle jab to Rhombus to please continue with _The Pursuit of Endless Day_. It's been so long. :P But besides that, this is a Petrie-centric chapter and really delves into the flyer's self-esteem and psyche after his brother's verbal attack, as well as his reasons and feelings about running away and taking on a challenge where his father had fallen so that he can prove himself.

But is Petrie right or wrong? And will he pay the same price as his father? Only time will tell. Next chapter would be the conclusion of this tale, and I hope to get it out by month's end.

…

**Anagnos:** Descriptive emotion is one of my most favorite things to write, and in part why the "adventure" part only starts in earnest this chapter. I'm glad you were fully immersed in the sibling squabble, as it was something which really bloated the word count. If this fic turned out to be the one-shot it was originally supposed to be, that section would have been cut significantly.

**Keijo6:** Well, this chapter reveals—kind of obviously—that the feeling of unworthiness and wish to escape the cycle of bullying was exactly what had led to Petrie venturing out, so you are spot-on! I did briefly entertain the possibility of the entire flyer family working together as a cohesive group to discover the truth hidden in Weathered Gorge at one point… but that would be way too much work for a one-shot. The conversation and arguments between all six siblings already lasted a modest 5K words in the final version… if I had them join, things would've gotten outrageously wild!

**Rhombus:** Good observation. In a way, everyone is speaking out of hurt from the revelation. In this case, the offending siblings took things out on an acceptable target and further exacerbated things by drawing comparisons between them. Despite all the rationalization in this chapter, Petrie's getaway comes before his present brooding and is indeed an impulsive one… and yes, impulse often leads to calamity.


	4. Like Father, Unlike Son

**Chapter 4: Like Father, Unlike Son**

_"It's no use, momma! Me no can fly! Why must Petrie learn how flap wings? Me okay with being on ground."_

_"My darling Petrie, it is okay if you are a slow learner. However, I cannot agree with what you just told me. The sky is truly majestic."_

_"Petrie no get it! What so good about sky? Brrrr… it high up… and scary!"_

_"To answer your question Petrie, I feel that as flyers, getting airborne is one of the most majestic and satisfying feelings that we can attain. There is simply no greater sense of contentment than soaring high in the skies."_

"_Me no believe you, momma! Petrie like stay on ground!"_

"_Well, that's because unlike your siblings, you haven't quite got the hang of flying yet. I think that's why you hold this viewpoint. But not to fret, Petrie. When you master the intricate skill of flying, I hope that you will look down at the ground below you with a smile and remember my vow to you."_

* * *

As Petrie's life flashed before his eyes, he let out a humorless chuckle at the words that sprang to his memory.

"_When you master the intricate skill of flying, I hope that you will look down at the ground below you with a smile and remember my vow to you."_

To say that he wasn't smiling would be an understatement. His beak was drawn horizontally straight. It wasn't exactly a frown, but it wasn't a happy smile either.

Petrie did have to concede that there was some truth to the statement, however. After his rough early childhood, he finally _did_ learn how to fly, and the feeling was indeed as euphoric as his mother had described. But now, it appeared like he would also meet his end while being high up in the sky and instead wishing that he was safe and sound on the ground.

How ironic.

There were definitely days where Petrie fervently wished that he had never left behind the sanctuary of the valley.

As he wildly gesticulated around and tried in vain to redirect himself from his current collision course, it struck him out of the blue while he was attempting to avoid ending up as a splattered flyer that this was certainly one of those dreadful days.

"Nngghhh!" he groaned, sucking in a sharp breath which came out as a high-pitched whistle as the cliff that would spell his doom loomed ever closer. It was almost like he was a spectator to his own demise, only able to watch helplessly while being unable to do anything to avert his grisly fate.

But such was life. Every once in a while, fate liked to remind him about just how fragile it truly was. Be it through illness, an earthshake, or a heart-pounding sharptooth attack, Petrie was often brought back down to earth and reminded harshly of how his own life could be cut short and terminated at any waking moment.

And it appeared like this was finally it for him. It looked like the time had come for him to head for the Great Beyond. Certainly a bit premature, but the finality and cold embrace of death did not discriminate between age or species.

He closed his eyes somberly, broken tears trickling down his face. Letting out a forlorn sigh, the flyer appeared to be at peace with himself as images of his best friends, his siblings, and his mother flashed in his head.

_Hey… what me doing!? Petrie no can die like this in middle of nowhere!_

Petrie angrily snapped his eyes open, straining himself to try and force his wings back to his sides as his body was swirling around in the vortex. Since the wind had blown him up to the sky by catching the surface of his wings, it followed that retracting his wings as though he was preparing to land would send him into a controlled dive… but one where he actually stood a chance at regaining control if he extended his wings at the right time.

Of course, if he failed, he would smash right into the ground. Painfully.

He shuddered, ridding the gory mental image from his mind. His imagination going wild was the last thing he needed at a time like this.

Truth be told, the only reason that Petrie was even going to attempt this maneuver was because he was guaranteed to crash into the cliff if he did nothing and surrendered to the whims of the brutal winds. Sending himself into a dangerous dive where he could escape the worst of the violent winds was his only way out of this storm.

Remaining passive was not an option. Risking a controlled dive was a gamble he would just have to take.

"Here… me… go!" Petrie gasped as he finally exerted enough effort against the relentless gale to flatten his wings to his sides. With his wings no longer accumulating the brunt of the wind, it no longer had enough drag to propel him up, and without warning Petrie quickly felt himself careening back down to earth at a terrifyingly fast speed.

Luckily, right at that moment, the winds beating at him from above miraculously slowed down just enough for Petrie to discern that they were no longer pushing his wings against his chest. Squinting his eyes as though he was bracing for impact as the rocky ground rose up to meet him, he took in a deep breath and spread open his wings just before he would slam into the ravine floor.

The effect was immediate. His flight path began to arc into a gentler curve as his swift dive allowed him to gain enough speed and lift to regain control of his flying capabilities. Once control was relinquished from the wind back to him, Petrie wasted no time in making his escape from the gorge now that he wasn't pelted by falling sky water. He used the momentum he gained from his rapid descent to pull up sharply until he was flying at an almost vertical angle.

He grunted from the enormous effort that was required to execute the hard turn and the subsequent upwards flight right out of the ravine. The journey through Weathered Gorge had already done quite a number on him, especially on the final leg of the journey when everything had gone horribly awry.

But at least now things were finally looking up. Quite literally, too, as he was streaking skywards and now tearing through the winds that previously had confined him to the deadly ravine.

Petrie let out a hurrah when the brown cliffs constricting him was no longer in view, for it meant that he had managed to escape Weathered Gorge! Leveling out horizontally now that he'd safely cleared the towering peaks which had trapped him prior, Petrie suddenly spotted a glimpse of dark blue out of the corner of his eye.

He performed a double-take, unable to believe what he was seeing. The only reason he didn't have a more vivid reaction was because it didn't quite compare to the revelations about his father or being bombarded by every weather phenomenon physically possible.

All of that still didn't stop Petrie from reacting with shock.

"M-Mom! What you doing here!?"

His mother angled herself so that she was besides Petrie, merely flashing a bemused grin in response to her son's query. "I should ask you the same thing, Petrie. Whatever brings _you_ to Weathered Gorge, I wonder?"

Petrie immediately clammed up at her question, averting his eyes away.

Sensing that she wasn't going to get an answer from Petrie's standoffish body language, Skylar instead glanced down at the ground, her eyes glazing over the gorge far below them. "But to answer you… I wasn't going to let history repeat itself, especially with that reckless move of yours. I'm certain your father tried to do the same when the winds got the better of him."

Although he was in the midst of flying, Petrie whipped his head around and stared at his mother. His face turned deathly pale as he locked eyes with the other flyer, still proceeding what he'd just heard. Never before had his mother delved into the circumstances surrounding the death of his father, at least not willingly. Even when he and his siblings had collectively eavesdropped on their mother, Petrie could barely glean any details since he couldn't peer into her head and could only infer what had happened from her words and mannerisms.

"The wind blew your father to the sky as well. Took him for quite a bit of a spin, actually," she joked, though the frown on her face didn't quite match her attempt of humor. "Unfortunately, he didn't manage to escape." Her voice cracked, but she let out a sigh. "That was because at the time, I was stuck on the ground and not in the air to support him. But that's not the case with you, Petrie."

His mom was not in the air during the flight ten Cold Times ago? But what difference would that make…?

That was when it hit him.

Of course! The sudden reprieve of the wind letting up on him while he had executed his dive down to the ground wasn't a coincidence! His mom must have flown directly overhead when he was diving, and as her body took the brunt of the wind force from above, that respite combined with the speed of his dive allowed him to pull himself free.

The glint in his mother's solemn eyes was confirmation enough to Petrie that this was indeed what had happened. Without saying anything, she broke away from their current formation, speeding up as she flew ahead of Petrie.

Her intention was clear when she proceeded to take charge. Petrie didn't have to be a genius to realize that his mother didn't want to stay here for any longer than she needed to. After his own experiences, he was quick to follow suit and concur without complaint, silently trailing behind his mother's lead. The remainder of the trip back to the valley was thus comparatively silent.

Only when the valley wall was in sight did Petrie unintentionally break the silence, beginning to hyperventilate at the thought of seeing his siblings again.

This wasn't how he had envisioned returning to the Great Valley at all! He was supposed to return with a triumphant fanfare… to prove that he had stepped out from his father's shadow and could stand as his own flyer! Instead he was coming home with his head hung low in defeat, unable to debunk his brother's words. As he flew over the valley wall Petrie found his eyes darting around frantically, half-expecting his siblings to appear out of nowhere and mock him for yet another failure.

"You seem distracted, Petrie. Are you looking out for someone?"

His observant mother had caught him out again. Despite her leading question, Petrie still attempted to deny it. "N-No…" he stuttered, lying through his teeth, "what make you think that?"

Skylar merely shook her head at his feeble attempts to suppress the truth from her. Many Cold Times of dealing with Petrie's antics had granted her the uncanny ability of predicting what her son was thinking in that head of his. "Don't worry," she started, landing on a grassy clearing quite far from their home, "I've made sure that your brothers and sisters are at the nest before I left. You and I will have some personal space to talk over here."

Petrie landed next to her, a tired yawn escaping his beak as he finally rested his wings after the long flight. "Yo-you knew?"

"I was appalled when I heard about what had happened from your siblings. Don't worry, I assure you that I've given both Gyro and Pitch quite the harsh talking-to."

Petrie had to suppress a small grin at hearing that the perpetrators of his misery got what they deserved when his mother gave him a warning look.

"But to answer your question, I would have deduced it anyway, even if your siblings didn't tell me about what was going on. You are quite easy to read and figure out, you know? I'm not going to grill you about why you did what you did because I know exactly why you did it."

He scratched the back of his neck bashfully. "Me really that obvious…?"

Skylar chuckled. "Yes, you are. Your friends are such a bad influence on you. It really does show."

Petrie did not deny his mother's accusation, there really was no defense against it. Instead, he zeroed in on the other thing his mother had just revealed to him, even though he'd already guessed it beforehand.

"Brothers and sisters tell on Petrie?"

"Yes. Right on the mark there." Skylar lowered her voice to a gentle and soothing tone. "But they didn't do it to get you in trouble. They were very worried about you, Petrie. Not only did they state where they thought you were heading, a few of them actually tried to follow me to Weathered Gorge when I went to look for you. I had to put my foot down and insist that they stay put in the valley."

Petrie nodded. He wasn't surprised by the revelation at all — knowing his siblings, his question had been a rhetorical one.

His mother then continued. "There was a reason I was so staunch with them. No matter how much Pitch and Gryphon begged me to come along, I had to ground them to the nest." She glanced towards the general direction of their home, "I wasn't going to let them just throw their lives away, and considering that you've been to the gorge, I think you can understand where I'm coming from. You've seen just how vicious it is, in all of its glory. The last thing I want is to have additional casualties."

Petrie couldn't help but shiver, remembering just how close he was from being a "casualty" himself. The shaken flyer hadn't managed to get the chance to look at a reflection of himself, but Petrie suspected that he looked worse for wear. He was probably a wreck after his experience.

"Don't worry. It's over now." Skylar consoled her son by walking over and massaging his shoulders. "I don't blame you for being scared. Weathered Gorge is absolutely terrifying. I've flown across a large portion of the Mysterious Beyond and seen many landmarks, but nothing quite beats this place in terms of the sheer terror it inflicted on me psychologically."

Petrie hobbled forward to get out of his mother's hold. "Me no get it. Why weather against Petrie? It like big, horrible storm, only it keep on changing!" His apprehension was slowly giving way to frustration now that he was safe again. "Frozen water, then sky water, and big wind! What happen there!?"

"So you _did_ manage to catch that… but to be fair, you'd have to be blind and deaf to miss it," Skylar murmured. "Well, what you experienced back there is the result of the strange weather effects that surround the gorge." She raised a wing to the sky, her voice solemn. "That is in fact how Weathered Gorge got its name — virtually any weather can materialize there. It is simultaneously both a marvel and a horrifying experience, all wrapped up in one neat package."

"That why Weathered Gorge weather so surreal and weird… it actually scary and dangerous place!" he exclaimed, before letting out a sulk. "Then Petrie no get it. Why you and Dad choose fly to there if it so bad?"

Skylar flinched at her son's direct query. "I was… a reckless girl, Petrie. You may see me as a calm and mellow mother, but that wisdom came with a price. Back in the day, I was actually a wild and adventurous deviant who flew upside-down loops around what was considered the norm. I sure did drive my parents crazy, you can bet," she chuckled, "It is rather disadvantageous to have no check and counter to shoot down your wilder ideas before they come to fruition. Unlike you, I didn't have someone like a level-headed Littlefoot to talk me down when I was young. Plus, your father liked that side of me and never interfered whenever I was in one of my impulsive urges."

"You were brave flyer, momma?" Petrie hedged evasively. He really didn't want to talk about anything resembling the subject after what had transpired.

"Not exactly," Skylar clarified, twiddling her wings together — a visible nervous tic. "There is a world of difference between being brave and being a reckless fool. The latter knows no fear, and that was certainly me back in the day. But I mellowed out significantly after I lost your father, especially after you and your siblings all hatched. I suppose that being a parent does that to you. Perhaps if one day you were to have children of your own, you'll see exactly what I mean. And maybe then, you'll realize exactly to what kind of an extent you end up scaring me to whenever you up and disappear on one of those little adventures with your fearless little friends."

Petrie chuckled bashfully when his mother called him out for his many attempts of flouting or ignoring her rules, and basically trying to evade her jurisdiction when it came to things that would get him in a whole lot of trouble, often involving his friends. "Petrie no going change that about me!" he rebutted in a playful manner.

"Speaking about change…"

The terse tone in Skylar's voice caused Petrie to stop his laughter and listen intently.

"Weathered Gorge is a place of constant change, shifts, and transitions. The weather never stays static, resulting in wildly unpredictable weather patterns, as you've seen. In a way, the gorge is very much an analogy to life itself," she remarked as she looked to the sky, "My point is that things change, Petrie. Nothing is forever."

Petrie immediately barked out a comeback. "But, that not true! Me friends — Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Spike, Chomper, Ruby… we all be together forever! We promise each other!"

Skylar appeared amused by his remark, which caused Petrie to fume until she explained things. "Do you remember when Littlefoot almost followed his father and his herd of farwalkers out to the Mysterious Beyond? You told me then that you were okay if he left, because your friendship would carry on in your heart," she quoted.

Oops… yeah, that was true. He did indeed say that.

With that counter-argument, Petrie also decided not to mention that they had to say goodbye to Chomper at least twice now before he and Ruby moved into the valley because of Red Claw and his cronies. He damn well wasn't going to bring up a point which would only serve to further shoot down his own side of the argument.

But his mother didn't push it, instead delving straight into her point. "I have changed as well. I am not exactly what one would call a model flyer in the past. My former attitude is probably what resulted in Pitch inheriting her impulsiveness and Roll getting her insatiable sassiness," she admitted, unable to keep a growing smile off her face as she used her wing to stroke the crown of Petrie's head. "And I suppose that the many misadventures of my spunky youth was where you got your intrepidness from… at least whenever your friends manage to coax that side out of you, Petrie."

Petrie stayed silent, pondering his words carefully before formulating a reply. "So you saying… me only brave because of you?"

"Not necessarily, Petrie," she consoled. "Just because you're my child doesn't mean you have to take after me."

"But you just tell Petrie that Roll act like this because of you," he retorted. "Then what about Gyro? He always mean because he feel like it! You no mean flyer, so he no get that from you!"

Skylar forced her beak closed. It looked like she was considering her next words carefully. "Not everyone must be exactly like their parents," she finally said.

Petrie shot an ugly glare at his mother when he realized that she was being altruistic and trying to defend Gyro. Whether she was playing devil's advocate or not, he was fuming at the idea. "That no excuse! He mean to Petrie because he feel like it! He make Petrie feel so bad me have to prove meself to him! Because he say that Petrie and Dad the same! And you know what? Me think he absolutely right about that!"

"Petrie…" Skylar cut her son off before he could fly into a further rage. "Your brother is just being presumptuous and trying to get under your skin. Think about it, Petrie. None of you saw or knew your father. Can Gyro really claim that you're both identical if he never knew him?"

Despite his mom's sensible explanation, it wasn't good enough to snap Petrie out of his funk. "It no matter… make no difference to Petrie," he muttered, resigned. At that moment, the weariness on Petrie's face made him appear as despondent as a leaf-eater who knew that they were done dinner in a sharptooth chase.

It was the expression of someone who had lost all hope.

"Oh, Petrie believe what Gyro tell me. Everyone else all brave and good at flying. Only Petrie bad at flying… no, me and Dad," he corrected, a desperate lilt creeping into his voice as he began to fervently pace back and forth. "Dad die at Weathered Gorge, and Petrie almost die in same way. That all the proof me need that we both terrible flyers! Me always been bad at flying and always been scaredy egg because of Dad!"

"You're wrong, Petrie."

The stern edge of his mother's curt retort caught Petrie by surprise, causing him to pause mid-rant to look up at her. Satisfied that she had Petrie's full attention, Skylar continued on. "As I said, Gyro didn't know his father, so he's not fit to cast biased and frankly unwarranted presumptions about what he thinks his father was like. But if you think about it rationally, Petrie — doesn't the same also apply to you?"

Petrie brooded over his mother's question. While she did have a point, it didn't do much to stop his self-loathing. He just couldn't fathom that he and his father weren't like two identical treestars. The resemblance, the proof, the almost uncanny turn of events which had him almost mirror his father's demise…

As if his mother could read his eyes, Skylar proceeded to address his concerns. "Pitch warned me that you probably wanted to verify the authenticity of Gyro's claims by tackling Weathered Gorge for yourself, and upon hearing her prediction I found myself inclined to believe that it was indeed what you had done. Why is that? To disassociate yourself with your dad?"

The heavy silence that permeated the air was enough of an answer.

"Oh, Petrie… you shouldn't label yourself by affixing negative connotations through making comparisons to your dad. There will be no end to it if you consistently put yourself down with negative assumptions like those, furthermore ones that you would never be able to get closure on by confirming it as true or false. Those negative thoughts swamping your mood are very much like the Circle of Life — perpetual and never ending."

"Well, that no good enough for Petrie!" Petrie lost his temper as the topic hit close to home, his voice rife with jealousy as he thrust his wings outwards in anger. "Just look at Petrie brothers and sisters! They better than Petrie at everything! Me useless compared to them!"

"Then I humbly implore you not to compare yourself to your siblings," Skylar suggested, deliberately making use of fancy-sounding words to get her raving son's attention. "There's no need to do something as reckless as braving Weathered Gorge to establish a pecking order that only you and Gyro care about. Just because you lack the social nerve doesn't mean you need to get hard up about it. There are many other traits where you positively excel, Petrie."

Petrie was feeling rather vindictive. Normally he would be more receptive to such a lecture, but the events at Weathered Gorge had stung him so much that the flyer decided to channel his inner Cera. "Like what?" he questioned incredulously, using his best snobby Cera impression.

"You got your big heart from your father."

He dropped all of his cynicism, caught off guard by her statement. "Really?" Petrie squeaked, his eyes shining with hope for the first time since he touched down at the valley.

"That's right," she confirmed, "And if you really want me to be honest, Gryphon is actually the one who shares the closest similarities with your father, not you."

"…Gryphon?" Petrie cocked his head. His closest brother by hatch order and a relation? He didn't expect that. All this time Gyro and Roll had made it sound like _he_ was the closest match to their father, but for his mother to reveal that it was actually the easy-going Gryphon instead? That was… unexpected.

"Your older brother is actually the spitting image of your father, in both appearance and personality," Skylar revealed when she saw the confusion on Petrie's features. "It is almost like my mate was reborn in my son…" she trailed off, a small smile gracing her beak at the thought.

"Petrie no know that! It no obvious to me!"

Skylar proudly puffed her chest out. "For good reason! I certainly don't treat Gryphon any differently from the way I treat the rest of you despite the uncanny similarities. Why should I? All of you are my precious children. It isn't fair to the rest of you if I showed him favoritism," she pointed out, before putting a wing to one of Petrie's shoulders. "I understand that you've fallen out of grace with most of your siblings, but they're still family. Give them time to change, Petrie. The Time of Great Growing might surprise you."

Petrie frowned, though in his heart he'd always known that his mother was impartial. Was it wrong for him to insist on further reparation for his unjust treatment? To demand that justice be served? He couldn't help but feel as though Gyro and Roll had gotten off with a mere slap on the wing from everything they did.

"Me no think brothers and sisters will change."

"There, there, Petrie…" Skylar let a chiding lilt into her voice to cut off her youngest son's accusatory lament. "…it's understandable that your mind will attenuate the bad, but always remember that some of your brothers and sisters have good intentions, even if it's not plainly obvious."

"Hmph! Me no think so." Petrie couldn't help but scoff at the notion that someone like Gyro and Roll had a heart of gold or secretly harbored the best intentions for their brother, just obfuscated and hidden under layers of snark and cruel sarcasm. It just wasn't possible.

Skylar folded her wings with a frown. "Don't give me that defiant face, Petrie. I meant what I said about change. Just look at me… would _you_ have liked it if the same impulsive flyer who led your father here ten Cold Times ago still behaved like she did today? I don't think you'll be very fond of me as a mother too if I behaved like Gyro or Roll on a constant basis."

Petrie gasped, recoiling back in horror. The flyer had always taken solace in his mother as a bastion of hope who he could confide in whenever the going got tough, and the very thought that the mother he knew and loved could have very easily turned out to be a complete stranger who actually encouraged such rowdy behavior from his siblings had she not pushed Dad to Weathered Gorge… it was almost too much to bear.

"So if me Dad no go Great Beyond… then that mean you continue be cruel and arrogant flyer?!" he deduced, shaking as he said those words, the very idea of that frightening Petrie right down to the core. "Petrie no like that at all! Me no even want think about it!" He bowed his head, voice lowering to a whisper. "If it mean you be nice caring Momma, should Petrie be… glad Dad no around now?"

Skylar was taken aback at Petrie's words, her eyes wide with shock. "Don't say that, Petrie!" she scolded, before pulling her son into a hug and crushing him tightly against her chest. "I don't think I said this, but I have a feeling that without your father battering the winds by my side, I wouldn't have made it out of Weathered Gorge myself. I refuse to let your father's sacrifice be a senseless one, so the very least you can do is look up to the stars where he resides in the Great Beyond and remember him as a great flyer, not to curse and dishonor his memory. Please, please, please… don't wish that he was better off dead, Petrie. He would be so hurt if he could hear you say that…"

His mother's sudden breakdown instantly made Petrie feel abysmal. He cringed when he realized what he'd done and wrapped his wings around his mother, returning the hug as the bummed out flyer began to shake himself, his body wrought with grief.

"Me sorry, Dad… Petrie no mean it like that," he apologized in a raspy but sincere voice towards the clearing skies, looking intently at the Bright Circle as he blinked his tears away.

"Thank you, Petrie," Skylar whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "I think your father is smiling down on you right now." Releasing her hold on Petrie, she brushed off her wings as a cheeky smirk graced her lips. "Though the loss of your dad had something to do with mellowing me out, I suppose that being a parent of a bunch of rascals like you guys would have done the same regardless."

Skylar let out a haughty laugh at Petrie's face when she saw her son taking affront to her remark. "Maybe Pterano should get a mate for himself, and only then will my brother not act so hotheaded and pompous all the time! I mean, settling down worked out rather well for humbling me and quashing that attitude of mine, and I was arguably worse than him at my prime. And if it succeeded for me and possibly for your uncle Pterano if he's truly learnt his lesson after that whole Stone of Cold Fire fiasco, who's to say that it someone like your brother Gyro won't change for the better given time?"

"Or maybe he become worse," Petrie cut in somewhat bitterly as he wiped away his tear streaks, still refusing to concede the point regarding his older brother. The animosity he felt towards Gyro still lingered despite his mother's best attempt to get him to put it aside, although letting out his emotions regarding his father earlier did alleviate the agitation he felt overall.

"You never know, Petrie. Only time will tell." His mother advised, deciding to cut the topic right there for today and not press the matter any further after noticing Petrie's sour mood.

Taking into account her youngest son's usual ambivalence with regards to any matters relating to his older siblings, Skylar had to say that Petrie was taking her prediction of a better relationship between him and his siblings relatively well. Though he was moody and understandably skeptical of such an outlook, Petrie hadn't deflected the topic, for one. He was just being staunch and stubborn.

"Are you upset at Gyro because you can't live up to the expectations you imposed on yourself?" she asked, trying a different approach. "You don't have to be the very best just to prove a point, Petrie. There's no need to be an overachiever like Pitch. Poor girl puts so much stress on herself just because she was the first to hatch. I'm not going to be an overbearing mother who expects miracles from my children."

Petrie had a wry grin on his beak as a mischievous thought crossed his mind. "So that mean you no going be like Mr. Threehorn?" he wiped his brow in solace, "Whew, that definitely big relief for Petrie! Cera always complain about him!"

"That's right… I'm not going to act like Mr. Threehorn anytime soon." Skylar chortled at Petrie's jab at the threehorns. It was a flyer thing to make fun of threehorns more than most other species as they could simply fly out of range of any possible retaliation. "For me, being average is something that is perfectly acceptable so long as you've tried your very best. All of us have our limits, Petrie, and biting off more than you can chew by chasing something beyond your ability is a foolish endeavor. Perfection is like the Bright Circle. No matter how far up we fly into the sky, even we flyers are unable to reach it no matter how hard we try until it is our time to leave for the Great Beyond."

Petrie spun on his feet, turning his body away from his mother. It was clear that he was trying not to get overly emotional again. Despite his best attempts to pull himself together, his mother's next words almost made Petrie burst into tears all over again.

"You're alright just the way you are, Petrie. You just have to learn to accept that. Don't compare yourself to your siblings, your father, or even your friends."

"O-okay…" Petrie managed to get out, "Me try…"

A whooshing sound caused Petrie to turn and see his mother extending her wings to their full length. It looked like she was finally done with her talk and was making preparations to fly back to their nest. Only now did Petrie see the sheer exhaustion on her face. Even without a body of water, he could see the weariness in his own face reflected in her eyes.

"Just like the unpredictable weather at Weathered Gorge, things and dinosaurs always change. I know you heard me say that I would never go back to Weathered Gorge, but I broke my own vow and came for you, didn't I?" she pointed out. "What's important is that I resolved myself to head back not to prove to myself that I could, but to protect you from harm. It wasn't easy battling my own demons with that place, but I came through in the end. I always do when it involves my children."

Petrie beamed at his mother's bravery as she took to the skies, sprouting out a few last lines of wisdom before she presumably headed off to take a long rest.

"You are not your father, Petrie. Every flyer is uniquely different, so just be yourself. Always adapt to change, but don't hold yourself to impossible standards. That way, you will become the best flyer you can be."

He dusted off his roughed-up wings, sitting down on the ground and closing his eyes to take a rest when his mother had left the scene. He really did feel a lot better after her pep talk, though now he found himself processing her advice in detail.

Maybe she was right? Striving to be better and crafting loftier standards for himself had guided him throughout his life. Perhaps it was time to just be satisfied with what he'd already managed to attain for himself instead of forcing drastic changes to meet increasingly absurd standards and goals…

"Petrie!"

Petrie was immediately jutted awake by two flyers coming out of nowhere and glomping him, one from each side. Too startled to react properly, he could only gasp out a plea to them. "Gah… Petrie no can breathe…"

Both flyers dialed things back a bit, giving Petrie some space to breathe upon his request. When they released him from the combined embrace, Petrie was finally able to get a good look at the perpetrators.

"Pitch, Gryphon… what you two doing here? Where you come from!?"

Gah, what was this!? How did his siblings find him in such a vulnerable state? He had even scouted out the area before he landed because he was afraid of this _exact_ scenario happening.

Pitch laughed before replying with a non-committal answer. "You can figure that out for yourself, Petrie."

"Think of this as a bit of friendly payback for losing me in that game of hide-and-seek in the trees earlier when you escaped the valley," Gryphon admonished, likely still a bit annoyed that he had lost sight of his younger brother in the vegetation earlier.

Petrie gulped. "Y-You eavesdrop on me and Mom!?" He still was rather sore and bummed out at being caught out, even if it was by his nicer siblings on the relative scale. He still didn't know how he'd react to seeing Gyro or Roll, though knowing that they had gotten their comeuppance did feel like a sweet victory.

"Nah, we didn't hear a thing," Gryphon assured. "Mom was already on edge when Pitch, Yaw, and I were forced to confess to her that we all eavesdropped on her once you disappeared. But we knew you were coming back with Mom, so the two of us just flew around the valley in a low profile until we saw Mom in the air, heading back to the nest."

"And heading towards the direction that she was flying from meant that we were likely to find you, Petrie," Pitch grinned, before running forward and hugging Petrie again. "But enough about that! I'm so glad you're safe, you reckless brother of mine! One of these days you're going to get yourself killed!"

"Yeah, what she said," Gryphon concurred. "Your luck's held out thus far, but one day it's going to run out."

Petrie's face fell. "You two only come here to nag Petrie?"

"Of course not!" Pitch retorted, placing her wings by her hips.

Gryphon had a gleeful expression, revealing something that he'd kept concealed behind his back. "We came to return you this!"

Petrie's beak fell open. "M-me snuggling stick…" he gaped.

"Yeah." Gryphon waved the object around. "You dropped it back in the forest!"

"…deliberately," Pitch added.

"And I knew how much it meant to you, so I asked Pitch to save it for your return. To surprise you when you made it through Weathered Gorge!"

Petrie staggered backwards, completely taken aback by Gryphon's words. "You believe in Petrie?" he asked

Gryphon looked at him in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Of course I believe in you, brother! You and your friends accomplished so much! And you changed up the tradition of the Day of the Flyers! Don't short change yourself, Petrie!"

He looked at the beaming face of Gryphon, and for an instant saw shades of a proud adult flyer superimposed on his khaki-brown brother's features.

_Gryphon closest to Dad, huh…_

Well, perhaps having traits of their father wasn't really as bad as Gyro and Roll had made it out to be.

"Thanks, but uh, can you give Petrie some time to meself?"

Gryphon tossed the stick to Petrie. "Okay! See you back at the nest later!"

"And don't go running off again!" Pitch warned jokingly. "You were lucky we were able to keep this under wraps! I know your friends were worried sick, but we managed to hide the fact that you flew away to some death trap from them."

"Hehehe…" Petrie chuckled nervously, picking up the fallen stick. "Thanks…"

One lecture from his mother was enough. He would be mortified if Littlefoot and the others ended up nagging at him too.

With casual nods to bid themselves goodbye, his two siblings left him be. Petrie smiled to himself, holding the snuggling stick close as he saw their retreating figures.

The past was the past. Whoever his father had been as a flyer, his misadventure in Weathered Gorge had taught Petrie that there was no point in remaining stuck in the past. He would never have a yardstick or a true basis of comparison between him and his father, but with the help of his mother he realized it didn't matter. He wasn't required to hold himself to some ridiculous standard just to meet the demands of others.

Petrie let out a soft croon as he nuzzled his snuggling stick with his face.

He might be the runt of his siblings, the butt of many jokes, and dead last in various physical attributes, but all of that didn't bother him as much anymore. What mattered now was that he felt comfortable being his old self, perfectly satisfied with the growth he managed to attain where previously he'd been frustrated at that stagnating progress.

Now that he was looking at things from a more positive angle, Petrie found that he was okay with playing a passive role, happy with being delegated the role of lookout on his friends' many adventures, and generally decent enough when it came to his flying abilities. Free of that judgmental burden that had plagued him now that he switched his mindset around, Petrie felt as though he was reborn again, just like when he had first relinquished his snuggling stick. But this time, that feeling came from accepting his snuggling stick back, and this time the gesture was done as a celebration and acceptance of who he was.

The world around him constantly shifting and trying to force him to fit the new mold wasn't going to change who he was.

Yep, he was just plain 'ol Petrie…

…and that was okay.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Well, this conclusion ended up being slightly late for the December prompt deadline. Figures. :P

This also marks the first time that I have ever completed a multi-chapter story on my account! You might have seen that I've previously left behind a bevy of unfinished works in my trail in the past, but this year I will be working on wrapping up some of them.

I had a lot of trouble writing the talk between Petrie and his mother, but I hope the overall themes of perfectionism and change upon a reflection of Petrie's journey managed to come through in a coherent manner. These two topics are quite dear to me, so I hope it was conveyed and wrapped things up neatly.

Still think this story could have turned out a lot better, but I'm going to take my own advice and not beat myself up for failing to meet my own lofty standards. In a way though, I wished I'd left it as a shorter oneshot. But this is my first prompt response of the year, and more will come in future!

…

**Anagnos:** I left the weather unexplained, as the whole reason I used the changing weather as a gimmick was to drive home the "constant change" lesson of this chapter, but I hope that wasn't a letdown. The part where the weather changed constantly was also the exact point where I wanted the chapter done quickly, and in retrospect it really shows. While it's a bit messy in my opinion, I hope Skylar's talk with Petrie was satisfactory enough of an explanation.

**Keijo6:** The underlying reason behind Petrie's vitriol towards his father is somewhat explained in this chapter. Funnily I never meant for Weathered Gorge itself to be the main beef of the story, and the emphasis was on the buildup and falling action, so I understand if it seems like the journey through the gorge was rushed.

**Rhombus:** In a perfect world where I had more time and drive, Weathered Gorge was supposed to be its own chapter… but true enough, the pride and fall of Petrie's determination to best the gorge in a chapter works rather well too. I think you put it together quite well, as the struggle for Petrie to outdo his father is fundamentally the catalyst behind his actions. I like that you noticed the snuggling stick, as in essence it is the very encapsulation of what this story is about.

**StardustSoldier:** Thanks for reviewing! Yep, Petrie and his siblings are all the same age, but what I mean is hatch order, sort of how Ducky is the oldest of all her siblings by just a few minutes or so. Almost all those scenes you mentioned dragged for you were only added when this story was turned from a oneshot into a longer story, so you might be onto something there. It is true that Gyro and Roll seems a bit too malicious, but every one of us uses their errant behavior in LBT12 as a base. :p


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